Generations Warpath: Pulled this guy out of storage while finally getting around to unpacking and setting up my shelves. Geez, I have a lot of DVDs...... Anyway, I'd forgotten what a brilliant update of the little G1 minibot he is. And I like the futuristic quad tread H-tank look.

As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

Generations Warpath: Pulled this guy out of storage while finally getting around to unpacking and setting up my shelves. Geez, I have a lot of DVDs...... Anyway, I'd forgotten what a brilliant update of the little G1 minibot he is. And I like the futuristic quad tread H-tank look.

Yeah - I love those old CHUG Legends figures. So much so I don't see the point in the recent and far more expensive versions...

Anyway...

At last! A day without wind or rain in Scotland coincided with some toddler-free spare time!

So I took the opportunity to take photos of MP Hot Rod fishing at the River Teith.

Yeah - I love those old CHUG Legends figures. So much so I don't see the point in the recent and far more expensive versions...

I'm not sure you and he are talking about the same toy. Generations Warpath was the Deluxe, wasn't he? The Legend (who, I agree, was quite neat) was Universe. Unless you're both talking about the repaint of Miner Megatron, then I'm the one who's confused.

For my part, after getting Hardhead and Skullcruncher I felt inspired to dig through my boxes to see how many other figures I owned that fit with them -- Headmaster-era characters with a reasonably G1-accurate look. But past the obvious two, I was surprised to find there weren't that many!

Generations Scoop is probably the closest fit of them all, since he basically looks like the G1 toy plus joints. He's a bit clunkier than the new Headmasters, but that's down to how clunky the '88 Targetmasters were and how spot-on the reproduction is (minus the colours, which I fixed anyway). Still, he's got the look, he's got his Nebulans and he looks like he belongs.

Universe Cyclonus is the other obvious one. He's a Targetmaster, and he's got a very show-accurate robot mode design. A bit too show-accurate, maybe, to really fit in with blocky Transformers like Skullcruncher, since Cyclonus here is whip-thin and most of the new toys have that 80s toy bulk to them, but I think he works.

Beyond that, though, it's slim pickings! I don't think there's many (or even any) other retail-release figures with Nebulan partners before this year, and most of the older Generations figures of 86-and-later characters tended to be heavily modernized or reimagined when they weren't simply repainted from other, more recognizable characters (like Classics Rodimus and Generations Scourge and Kup with their Earth-based vehicles, or Blurr being a Drift redeco).

If you start looking at stuff like Pretenders, there not much either. Thunderwing and Black Shadow are nice, pocket-sized versions of their original designs, and Classics Grimlock is a bigger, more detailed version of the Pretender's inner robot. None of them have their gimmicks intact, but they're still callbacks to toys from the same general era (whether you define that era as "late G1" or more vaguely as "Warcry's childhood" ) and look the part.

Am I forgetting about any other old figures that would fit in with this group? A lot of the Titans Return Deluxes have that nice 80s look -- basically all of them shown so far other than the IDW-based Getaway and the kinda Classics-looking Hot Rod, in fact -- so I'm sure I'll be adding a bunch of new figures to this particular sub-collection over the next year. But I don't want everyone to be a Headmaster...

Generations Nightbeat: I love this figure. I shouldn't, really. His shoulders are crap, I bought 2 upgrade pieces to add height and give him a G1 style animation model chest, and I got the Reprolabel kit to add some color. His pack in weapon is so bad he beat up Skids and took his nudge gun to use as a pistol.

And yet.....

Shoulder problems aside, even without the mods I've made, the mold is fairly good. The lean, lanky look works for Nightbeat far better than it does for Bumblebee or Goldbug. It just feels right.

As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

I'm not sure you and he are talking about the same toy. Generations Warpath was the Deluxe, wasn't he? The Legend (who, I agree, was quite neat) was Universe. Unless you're both talking about the repaint of Miner Megatron, then I'm the one who's confused.

Ah. Could be. That Deluxe is cool too. I still enjoy those two. I passed on the repaint of Miner Megatron - didn't have a cannon in his chest.

To touch on your other points - I really like a Universe Cyclonus, particularly the toy-based colour scheme on a more show accurate mould. Great fun!

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).

I've been working my way through the G1 Transformers comic and cartoon and fully intend to follow up on it with the A/E/C trilogy, with the intent of selling those toys after I'm done since I'm pretty sure that'll be the last time I ever watch those damn things (also to fund my G1 collecting since that's pretty much all I buy these days)...

...but the trouble is, I've owned my Armada and Cybertron toys for such a long time that they've practically got their own nostalgia. Considering how few I own to begin with, it'd feel a bit silly to just keep one or two - and even if I did, which ones would they be? Armada Hot Shot may be a piece of crap, but he's also the first Transformers toy I'd gotten since whenever the hell G2 ended. The Cybertron toys in the other hand are what you might actually consider good, especially in this day of hollow limbs and movie-inspired aesthetic, they appeal to me with their G1 blockiness.

And in spite of effectively having stuffed them in a box, taped it shut and shoved it in storage, I can't help but to feel attached to them. At least unlike the various Classics/Universe/whatever toys, most of which I've already sold, they're not trying to explicitly pass off as their G1 counterparts.

Generations Nightbeat: I love this figure. I shouldn't, really. His shoulders are crap, I bought 2 upgrade pieces to add height and give him a G1 style animation model chest, and I got the Reprolabel kit to add some color. His pack in weapon is so bad he beat up Skids and took his nudge gun to use as a pistol.

And yet.....

Shoulder problems aside, even without the mods I've made, the mold is fairly good. The lean, lanky look works for Nightbeat far better than it does for Bumblebee or Goldbug. It just feels right.

Had Goldbug - sold him off. The whole thing just didn't work for me. Kind of surprised they never used the old Classics 'Bee mold for a Goldbug in the CHUG lines. That would have fit far better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

If you start looking at stuff like Pretenders, there not much either. Thunderwing and Black Shadow are nice, pocket-sized versions of their original designs

Been digging through all of my stuff since my boy is into Rescue Bots right now. I really like Gen Black Shadow, even though I have zero nostalgia for him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

so I'm sure I'll be adding a bunch of new figures to this particular sub-collection over the next year. But I don't want everyone to be a Headmaster...

I agree on that one. I'm gettin' that Getaway for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by numbat

To touch on your other points - I really like a Universe Cyclonus, particularly the toy-based colour scheme on a more show accurate mould. Great fun!

Had Goldbug - sold him off. The whole thing just didn't work for me. Kind of surprised they never used the old Classics 'Bee mold for a Goldbug in the CHUG lines. That would have fit far better.

Classics 'Bee could have been retooled into a ton of characters that they never touched, starting with Goldbug and three of the other Throttlebots. It's a shame it never happened, since that's a great mold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Been digging through all of my stuff since my boy is into Rescue Bots right now. I really like Gen Black Shadow, even though I have zero nostalgia for him.

Never liked Black Shadow, myself. He just seems so much plainer than Thunderwing, and honestly that's just not a very good mold to start with. I'd love for both of them to get a big, modern figure with the Mega Pretender gimmick intact, though.

My son has been going through an "I want to play with daddy's robots!" phase, so I went digging through all my old stuff as well. I was actually surprised to find how few of the Generations figures I've got on hand are at all appropriate for a little kid to play with, though (and my sister's kids have most of my Unicron Trilogy stuff). The older stuff is all so complex and fiddly, with small parts likely to pop off and go in his mouth.

One of the toys I did grab for him, though, was Generations Hoist, on the logic that he's not likely to fall apart in his hands. And also because Hoist's hands flip into his wrists, and that's all my little guy actually seems to want to do with the toys so far.

I never liked Hoist because of the tiny head, but it did inspire me to dig out Trailbreaker for myself, who I remembered liking. I...don't so much like him anymore. The torso transformation is frustrating as heck and any time I try to move the arms he starts to untransforms himself. The robot mode also looks really bland with all the washed-out red on it. Suffice to say, he got tossed back in the tote less than half an hour after I hauled him out. Maybe my boy can have him too after he inevitably destroys poor Hoist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Uni Cyclonus is fantastic. Just an absolutely ace figure.

I'd actually forgotten how many little things on this toy frustrate me, but after having him out on my desk for a few months it's coming back. The shoulders don't pop in as securely as they should, the back end of the jet mode is really messy, Nightstick doesn't really clip into his wrist the way he's supposed to, I don't like one hand being a molded fist and they were painfully stingy with the paint. It's a fun figure, and a pretty one, but not as much of either as it should have been.

I also pulled out his wavemate Hound, who I recall loving, but again the actual figure doesn't match up to the memories I had. It looks great, and is a really nice mix of toy and cartoon aesthetics. But you can't pose it at all. His thighs are shorter than the thickness of his feet (!) so he looks silly if you bend his knees, and his hips are insanely loose. So posing him is basically restricted to how far apart you want his feet and how you want his arms positioned. He's also got paint wear everywhere, most notably on the clear-blue windshield section but also on his arms and legs. He's nowhere near as cool a toy as I remember. A nice shelf piece but not something I'm going to look forward to playing with again.

Classics 'Bee could have been retooled into a ton of characters that they never touched, starting with Goldbug and three of the other Throttlebots. It's a shame it never happened, since that's a great mold.

Completely agree. Well, we got Cliffjumper, but those were the days of straight repaints with no new heads. That would have gone a long way on that figure.

Now we're finally getting a Throttlebot repaint with Roadburn from TR Bumblebee. Figures. At least he's got a new head!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

Never liked Black Shadow, myself. He just seems so much plainer than Thunderwing, and honestly that's just not a very good mold to start with. I'd love for both of them to get a big, modern figure with the Mega Pretender gimmick intact, though.

I only have a soft spot for Black Shadow since he was a gift. Toy-wise he's not spectacular in any sense of the word. But I like Decepticons and jets, so my wife hit both of those marks with that gift.

And you're getting a big Black Shadow... it just happens to have no Pretender functionality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

I was actually surprised to find how few of the Generations figures I've got on hand are at all appropriate for a little kid to play with, though (and my sister's kids have most of my Unicron Trilogy stuff). The older stuff is all so complex and fiddly, with small parts likely to pop off and go in his mouth.

I recently came across my old Universe Ironhide and Ratchet deluxes, and felt the same way. Those were really the days of over-engineering in that size class. I liked the figures for a time, but they're a pain to transform and you're left with a metric s***-ton of panel lines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

I never liked Hoist because of the tiny head, but it did inspire me to dig out Trailbreaker for myself, who I remembered liking. I...don't so much like him anymore.

My Trailbreaker had stress marks on the shoulders after one go at the transformation. Neat little guy over all, but I've since replaced him with CW Trailbreaker. I'm not sure that I really made an upgrade.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

I'd actually forgotten how many little things on this toy frustrate me, but after having him out on my desk for a few months it's coming back. The shoulders don't pop in as securely as they should, the back end of the jet mode is really messy, Nightstick doesn't really clip into his wrist the way he's supposed to, I don't like one hand being a molded fist and they were painfully stingy with the paint. It's a fun figure, and a pretty one, but not as much of either as it should have been.

My Cyclonus is pretty right all around; I don't think I've experienced the same looseness as you. His back end is rather full of holes though, and I'm not fond of the relative instability of that area in space ship mode. Got the CW version of him, and it's obvious the mold wasn't made for Cyclonus at all. That said, the top of the space ship looks really good, but the bottom has got that robot-tacked-on-ship thing going for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

A nice shelf piece but not something I'm going to look forward to playing with again.

Well, that pretty much sums up my Hound. Don't usually put him back and forth, but I will say this - he tucks into that relatively tiny jeep mode well.

Speaking of that era, I still have my Classics Optimus on my shelf too. Man, that figure was really done well. Outdated by now for sure, but it's a simple figure and looks great. The articulation is still pretty good all things considered. The only thing that ever bugged me about him is the truck sides on his forearms. And the lack of a proper-stylized rifle.

Completely agree. Well, we got Cliffjumper, but those were the days of straight repaints with no new heads. That would have gone a long way on that figure.

Cliffjumper really needed a new head, this is true. But not including one led to that third-party head upgrade being made. And that being such a huge hit was one of the big factors in driving the huge 3P boom we have now! If Hasbro hadn't been so lazy, I wonder how different the landscape might be now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Now we're finally getting a Throttlebot repaint with Roadburn from TR Bumblebee. Figures. At least he's got a new head!

Can't deny, I'm super excited for a new Throttlebot! I'm half-expecting Legends Brawn to get tarted up as Rollbar, but that's less exciting since Brawn doesn't really transform like a Throttlebot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

And you're getting a big Black Shadow... it just happens to have no Pretender functionality.

True enough! And it looks a lot better than the old Generations figure, to be sure. But it's also very obviously meant to be used as Overlord later, and I can't see myself buying a Leader mold twice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

I recently came across my old Universe Ironhide and Ratchet deluxes, and felt the same way. Those were really the days of over-engineering in that size class. I liked the figures for a time, but they're a pain to transform and you're left with a metric s***-ton of panel lines.

Those two are probably the worst examples of it, but yeah. A lot of figures in that era suffered from having movie-level complexity applied to designs that didn't really need it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

My Trailbreaker had stress marks on the shoulders after one go at the transformation. Neat little guy over all, but I've since replaced him with CW Trailbreaker. I'm not sure that I really made an upgrade.

CW Trealbreaker uses the same mold as First Aid, right? The truck/SUV? If so, yeah...a wash at best. Out of all the CW figures I've got, First Aid is fighting Brawl for the worst of the bunch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

My Cyclonus is pretty right all around; I don't think I've experienced the same looseness as you. His back end is rather full of holes though, and I'm not fond of the relative instability of that area in space ship mode. Got the CW version of him, and it's obvious the mold wasn't made for Cyclonus at all. That said, the top of the space ship looks really good, but the bottom has got that robot-tacked-on-ship thing going for it.

CW Cyclonus does nothing for me either. Honestly I don't even think the mold is very good as Silverbolt, though it gets the job done very well as a combiner torso. All of the Voyagers from CW just wound up being pretty mediocre standalone toys, other than maybe Sky Lynx (who I can't comment on since I don't have one). The Deluxes all felt kinda samey, but most of them still manage to be fun. The Voyagers aren't really all that fun unless they're combined, though.

And it amazes me to think that they stretched out just four molds across six waves. TR has more than that in the first three!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Speaking of that era, I still have my Classics Optimus on my shelf too. Man, that figure was really done well. Outdated by now for sure, but it's a simple figure and looks great. The articulation is still pretty good all things considered. The only thing that ever bugged me about him is the truck sides on his forearms. And the lack of a proper-stylized rifle.

I've somehow managed to never own Classics Optimus or any of his redecos. The figure never appealed, but honestly I don't think much of any of the new spins on G1 Optimus that have been done since then, either. The original design is so simple and iconic, but Hasbro just never seems to get it right. Nothing short of the MPs has captured the look of G1 Prime, at least for me.

The rifle and the transformation are a big part of it, but they almost never try to give him a G1-looking gun, and the only toy that tried to emulate the transformation was the Classics Deluxe (which had it's own problems).

It's funny because they've tried twice now to make a modern Laser Prime, and now a modern Powermaster, but never really taken aim at the original look.

This past weekend my 5 year old son and I were messing with some Transformers of mine, and a few thoughts crossed my mind. My son is at the age where Rescue Bots are a little too simple for him, but most figures are a bit too complicated. I handed him Getaway (Breakaway), the 2007 Movie-line repaint of Cybertron Excellion. He's pretty good at it! Some of those older toys, while outdated, hit the right mix of challenge vs. simplicity, while maintaining fun.

So I busted out another 'older' figure in my collection: Generations Armada Starscream and four mini-cons from back in the 'Universe' days when they were sold as singles at discount shops. Pegged him all up with mini-cons, and we were ready for battle!

First of all, these 'gimmicks' really are cyclical, aren't they? The mini-cons of the Armada era are now the Primes of the current era (and mini-cons of RiD). Smaller transformers that lend better powers to bigger transformers. Not a new concept, as these types of things were around in G1 with Powermasters, Targetmasters, etc. A reoccurring theme, I think.

Second, the team(s) at HasTak have really been hitting the late-G1 era pretty hard lately with remakes. What era will be next? I feel like they dabbled a bit with Beast Wars, but didn't really do it justice. I'm not a BW fan, but many are. I would think the collectors would like something like that. Or would it be the old RiD? Haven't seen any homages to that. Energon? Armada? Cybertron? Or is the latter too 'recent'? After PotP, what's next for the Generations line?

Third, it astounded me that I don't have many of my 'older' figures to actually remember they existed in the first place. Aside from Classics Optimus & Megatron, Starscream might be one of the oldest figures I own. He came out in 2014!!! It dawned on me how much turnover my collection sees - 7 of the 70+ Transformers I own come from lines that aren't CW/TR/PotP. With some exceptions, I will keep a single version of a character, and 'upgrade' as I go. So I did some digging, with the help of internet toyline lists...

As a kid (born in '80), I had just about as many Gobots as I did Transformers, likely because a great many were gifts and Gobots were cheaper (the count was 23 - 14 in favor of TFs if you were curious). I don't have any of them anymore, long gone to a garage sale and a few on eBay years go. Having passed up TFs in favor of TMNT later in adolescence, and then letting go of much of my stuff in my teens, collecting TFs didn't become a part of me until the 2007 time-frame when the live action movie was set to arrive. I hit Classics hard, with a little Movie stuff thrown in. I even dabbled in the Energon/Cybertron repacks that were available at Family Dollar.

At any rate, I tried to make an account of the stuff I own(ed). Turns out, I still have 72 Transformers. Over the course of my life, nearly 300 TFs/Gobots have passed through my hands (280, if I counted correctly - probably missed a couple)!!! I don't know if that number is small or large, it's just my number. I could do the math, but I'm afraid to know what I have spent on these things, especially over the past ~10 years. I'd also like to know what I've recouped as I've sold off. I suppose it's a good thing that I don't own all of that stuff today, as that might classify as hoarding. At times, I miss some of those older figures, but I also don't think I would enjoy my collection if it were that large.

So what's your number? Too big to count? Too little to care? Too muddled to even start? Just curious.

Armada Starscream is still good fun, by the way. Great articulation, excellent missile pods and energon swords, and he can easily hold four mini-cons and stand. One of the reasons he's lasted as 'long' as he has in my collection.

Ooh the Cybertron Hotshot mould - that's excellent that! Although Breakaway's finish feels a lot more papery and rough next to Hot Shot.

I think I'm still bubbling around the 400 mark, but am trying to weedle my collection down; so much of it is in boxes and isn't really getting much love. I sold off the majority of my Beast Wars collection last year and feel really good for clearing some stuff out (I'm down to a handful of Japanese vs sets and the Transmetals from the western series). I think one of the things I struggle with is duplicates: I like different versions of the same toy for different reasons. I did cut down the CW toys I'd picked up, because, on reflection, the likes of CW Bruticus and Defensor just didn't seem as good as the originals to me.

I still have a huge fondness for the early 2000s stuff; RiD, Beast Machines and Universe are still my favourites and I've kept all that stuff and would find it really hard to part with. Likewise the Bookbox and Encore reissues.

I'm aware of what I've been spending on TFs and what I've got back on resale, and I'd say I've probably made a loss, but that doesn't surprise me - the brand feels a lot more of a fad these days with incarnations coming and going or, in the case of the CHUG stuff, being superceded by better designs down the line. All my Prime, Animated and Classics and Movie stuff stuff hasn't done well and due to space, I no longer keep the boxes for much stuff (just the Japanese stuff) so you take a hit on that.

One of the things that has surprised me is how much fun some toys I'm really not expecting much from are; the CW Autobot car limbs (Prowl/Sunstreaker/Ironhide/Mirage) are just cheap repaints with new heads, but I think they're great (and I like they go well with CW Sky Lynx, colour-wise - er, except for Sunstreaker). Likewise, the CW leader class Skywarp is excellent and much more of a quality product compared to Generations Jetfire.

This past weekend my 5 year old son and I were messing with some Transformers of mine, and a few thoughts crossed my mind. My son is at the age where Rescue Bots are a little too simple for him, but most figures are a bit too complicated. I handed him Getaway (Breakaway), the 2007 Movie-line repaint of Cybertron Excellion. He's pretty good at it! Some of those older toys, while outdated, hit the right mix of challenge vs. simplicity, while maintaining fun.

I've had the same sort of experience. A lot of newer main-line toys just seem to be that little bit too complex for a little kid to pick up and play. Although my nephew (who just turned four) had a whale of a time playing with some TR figures I'd left out the last time he was over, so I think they might be finding their way back to the right balance again. By comparison, the handful of movie figures I had out just baffled him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Second, the team(s) at HasTak have really been hitting the late-G1 era pretty hard lately with remakes. What era will be next? I feel like they dabbled a bit with Beast Wars, but didn't really do it justice. I'm not a BW fan, but many are. I would think the collectors would like something like that. Or would it be the old RiD? Haven't seen any homages to that. Energon? Armada? Cybertron? Or is the latter too 'recent'? After PotP, what's next for the Generations line?

I don't know that Beast Wars would be a great choice, honestly. There's only a small selection of recognizable characters (about 20 from the show, and maybe five more from the Japanese lines), not enough to fill out a whole toyline. I don't think they'd want to dive too deep into the toy-only characters (though they'd probably make some), so I'm not sure how you'd fill out a whole line with BW stuff. Personally I'd be on board for original characters or characters from other lines reinvented in BW style, but I don't know if Hasbro would do that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

So what's your number? Too big to count? Too little to care? Too muddled to even start? Just curious.

I've got around 400 now. About 2/3s of those are in plastic totes in the basement, and probably 200 of them are things I wouldn't miss if they were gone. But I find that most of the stuff I want to get rid of usually isn't worth enough to bother trying to sell, especially now that Canada Post is jacking up its shipping rates. Most of the main lines (Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Prime...) aren't very popular anymore, and even the older Classics/Universe and Movie stuff doesn't seem to get much love nowadays. The curse of a fandom that's always moving on to the next big thing, I guess. Thankfully most of it wasn't very expensive to begin with.

I've probably owned around 200 others that I've sold, traded, handed down to younger relatives or thrown out because they were broken.

I don't know that Beast Wars would be a great choice, honestly. There's only a small selection of recognizable characters (about 20 from the show, and maybe five more from the Japanese lines), not enough to fill out a whole toyline. I don't think they'd want to dive too deep into the toy-only characters (though they'd probably make some), so I'm not sure how you'd fill out a whole line with BW stuff. Personally I'd be on board for original characters or characters from other lines reinvented in BW style, but I don't know if Hasbro would do that.

I agree with this - the Generations Beast Wars figures we did get are excellent, but not that far removed from the original toys in terms of articulation and overall appearance. Sure, toy technology has moved on, but that original line still stands up well next to today's Transformers (if not actually surpassing it in terms of build quality).

Much as I've loved Titans Return*, I really want a good mainstream line that everyone can get into. I'm not really into having four or five concurrent toylines for what is essentially the same overall focus. I can understand that Hasbro is trying to encourage some kind of 'growing up with the brand' with Rescue Bots aimed at nippers, with RID15 being 'main' range aimed at the key demographic, before you either move on or get into the Generations/ MP stuff.

*I was messing about with these yesterday, having a bit of a tidy up, and I was thinking what a massive shame this line with its great play pattern has largely been a collector-orientated line. It would have made for a great main line in its own right. Wouldn't have been so hard to make it its own thing, as demonstrated (er, with varying degrees of success) with the old Japanese Headmasters cartoon. I'd be interested to find out if kids get into these non-show/movie lines...

Micromasters! I dug these out and still find these great fun. Sure, we've had Mini-Cons, but I love the simplicity and styling of the original Tiny Transformers. And all the silly bases. All very Polly Pocket, but such good fun to be able to assemble an environment for the wee 'bots to interact with.

Ooh the Cybertron Hotshot mould - that's excellent that! Although Breakaway's finish feels a lot more papery and rough next to Hot Shot.

It sure is a lot of fun! Even for a 13 year old design, the articulation and play abilities don't make it too outdated. I used to have the old Cybertron Defense mold too, in the Roadbuster colors from the Universe line. That one was fun as well, but a little unbalanced if I remember correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyquake87

I think I'm still bubbling around the 400 mark

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

I've got around 400 now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay

I find that measuring in cubic feet is simpler than trying to get a headcount.

...

It's still a lot

Seems like my measly <100 (not cubic feet ) isn't too bad. Mostly I try to constrain my collection to 2 shelves, leaving the 3rd shelf for Star Wars. I find that if I'm storing it in a box and not fiddling with it, it should probably be somewhere else. Part of the money I recoup circulates into something new for the collection. I like to think that my collection 'breathes'; swelling then selling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyquake87

I'm aware of what I've been spending on TFs and what I've got back on resale, and I'd say I've probably made a loss, but that doesn't surprise me - the brand feels a lot more of a fad these days with incarnations coming and going or, in the case of the CHUG stuff, being superceded by better designs down the line. All my Prime, Animated and Classics and Movie stuff stuff hasn't done well and due to space, I no longer keep the boxes for much stuff (just the Japanese stuff) so you take a hit on that.

I've found the same - I'm probably a little short of even on resale, if you also count eBay & Paypal fees. Some things that I pegged for decent resale just don't have much demand anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyquake87

One of the things that has surprised me is how much fun some toys I'm really not expecting much from are; the CW Autobot car limbs (Prowl/Sunstreaker/Ironhide/Mirage) are just cheap repaints with new heads, but I think they're great (and I like they go well with CW Sky Lynx, colour-wise - er, except for Sunstreaker). Likewise, the CW leader class Skywarp is excellent and much more of a quality product compared to Generations Jetfire.

Prowl is one of my faves from the CW line. I don't know if it's the paint job or what that does it, but even the mold itself is really fun. I find Smokescreen to be fun, but the paint job is less-so, unless you're looking at the alt mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warcry

I've had the same sort of experience. A lot of newer main-line toys just seem to be that little bit too complex for a little kid to pick up and play. Although my nephew (who just turned four) had a whale of a time playing with some TR figures I'd left out the last time he was over, so I think they might be finding their way back to the right balance again. By comparison, the handful of movie figures I had out just baffled him.

My son has a couple of the '3-Step' RiD figures, but they seem to bore him as well. Whether that's the toys themselves or just that he doesn't watch the show to have a connection, I don't know. We've watched some G1 together though, so if I come across the 'Authentics' stuff - the G1 'big' Legends figures - I would probably try them on him. Plus, they're only $5.

Movie figures would stump my son too. I also think that the movie aesthetic is a bit too busy for the eyes of 4-6 year olds. The cleaner looks of G1/RiD helps.

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Originally Posted by Warcry

I don't know that Beast Wars would be a great choice, honestly. There's only a small selection of recognizable characters (about 20 from the show, and maybe five more from the Japanese lines), not enough to fill out a whole toyline. I don't think they'd want to dive too deep into the toy-only characters (though they'd probably make some), so I'm not sure how you'd fill out a whole line with BW stuff.

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Originally Posted by Skyquake87

I agree with this - the Generations Beast Wars figures we did get are excellent, but not that far removed from the original toys in terms of articulation and overall appearance. Sure, toy technology has moved on, but that original line still stands up well next to today's Transformers (if not actually surpassing it in terms of build quality).

This is fair. I never watched BW, BM, Energon, Armada, or Cybertron, nor was I part of the fandom at the time, so I have zero gauge of interest. Seems to me that people who did watch BW have a soft spot for it, but if there aren't that many characters that would be able to make the cut as a full line, there's no business sense to go for it.

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Originally Posted by Warcry

Personally I'd be on board for original characters or characters from other lines reinvented in BW style, but I don't know if Hasbro would do that.

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Originally Posted by Skyquake87

Much as I've loved Titans Return*, I really want a good mainstream line that everyone can get into. I'm not really into having four or five concurrent toylines for what is essentially the same overall focus. I can understand that Hasbro is trying to encourage some kind of 'growing up with the brand' with Rescue Bots aimed at nippers, with RID15 being 'main' range aimed at the key demographic, before you either move on or get into the Generations/ MP stuff.

I would be in favor of a single line with new characters, etc. that doesn't feature the 'cartoon' aesthetic that Animated, Prime, and RiD had; for some reason that look just doesn't strike a chord with me. I much prefer a more robot-y aesthetic, and new stuff with aesthetic cues from G1/G2/Armada/Energon/Cybertron would fit that, but I'd take it with the simplicity of the CW engineering. Keeping Rescue Bots-type stuff for the wee ones is fine with me, but I would get rid of the same-character-multiple step-classes thing they're doing right now. It has to be downright confusing for parents not-in-the-know to find the 'right' figure for their kid.

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Originally Posted by Skyquake87

Micromasters! I dug these out and still find these great fun. Sure, we've had Mini-Cons, but I love the simplicity and styling of the original Tiny Transformers. And all the silly bases. All very Polly Pocket, but such good fun to be able to assemble an environment for the wee 'bots to interact with.

I used to have the Micromaster Race Car Patrol set, which was awesome! They were the only Micromasters I had, but man, those things were simple and really fun. I got them when I was an older kid, so I didn't play with them much - I think they lasted better than some of my other TFs. One day I might have to snag the set on eBay or something, as they seem to go for around $20 with free shipping. That's not too bad in my book!

Since quite a few of you had some of the stuff from Armada/Energon/Cybertron, is there anything worth hunting down (that's not going to crush my bank)? I'm thinking of adding a few 'vintage' pieces to my collection. I was looking at Energon Starscream (and the Cybertron one too, for that matter) but didn't know if they hold up today. I like simplicity and fun, and those lines seem to hit that decently - I just don't want to buy pieces of junk. The Cybertron Defense Scattorshot mold looks like fun too. Thoughts?

Megatron. Nice design, good solid figure with tons of excellent play features (traps and capture features for grabbing Minicons). Cyclonus is good fun, once you get past him being quite clunky and ugly. Armada is a funny line, it's not full of particularly pretty looking toys, but they're good fun. I liked the leader Optimus + Jetfire + Overload combo. The Beast Wars figures repurposed for the line are also good.

Energon:
The Autobot figures (in the Deluxe class at least) are all pretty horrible, but the larger figures Landmine and Bulkhead are fab.

The Decepticons all got pretty much great figures - Scorponok, Slugslinger, Battle Ravage, Divebomb, Starscream are all superb. Even weaker efforts like Snowcat and dump truck Demolishor are fun.

The gestalts from the line are a bit naff, but some of the limbs are cool; Sledge, Treadshot & Kickback are probably my favourites.

Cybertron is a bit patchy - has the same sort of aesthetic as Armada - great, colourful, blocky things with fairly basic transformations.* Leader Optimus, Leader Megatron (or Galvatron) are great, as is Primus.

I had a few I liked Scout Class Short Round, Scattorshot and Wreckloose were good.

And that's off the top of my head. Can't vouch for prices, over here in the UK/ Europe carded/ boxed figures seem to be asking a premium for ...reasons on ebay. At conventions, you can pick up loose/ complete versions fairly cheaply.

*I take that back, they probably are about the same as the current CW/TR/ POTP stuff.

I remember seeing garbage like Brushguard at cheapie stores like Family Dollar and passed. Glad I never bought it.

Is the Cybertron Starscream the Thrust-y colored one? Or the more G1-y Galaxy Force? Both seem to (at face value) have listings on eBay that I think are way over-priced. For the same relative cost I can get the Supreme-class one with the crown.

I agree with this - the Generations Beast Wars figures we did get are excellent, but not that far removed from the original toys in terms of articulation and overall appearance. Sure, toy technology has moved on, but that original line still stands up well next to today's Transformers (if not actually surpassing it in terms of build quality).

I think Beast-era figures win out in some ways, but modern stuff has it's appeals too. The BW figures have more paint apps and better (and more) plastic. But the newer stuff has better engineering, for the most part. Ball joints are awesome but a lot of BW figures use them in bad places, with way too much weight on them, or in transformation schemes that require you to perfectly line up parts that would have moved much more smoothly with simple hinges and swivels.

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Originally Posted by Skyquake87

Much as I've loved Titans Return*, I really want a good mainstream line that everyone can get into.

Have to agree with this. Trying to segment the brand so finely makes it super difficult to keep track of what's what. There are so many things on the shelf that even I, a dedicated fan of their brand, doesn't know what's what outside of the Generations line. Even if the RiD line or the movie line or whatever else is going on puts out something I'd love, odds are I won't even know about it until it's too late, unless I happen to stumble upon someone else talking about it. There's just too much going on right now.

But I don't see it changing for a long time. They've carved up the fandom into little niches of retro fans, movie fans, cartoon fans, etc., and I don't see how you could pull all that back together without chasing away big slices of the existing fanbase. Just speaking for myself, if the Generations line disappeared tomorrow I'd probably drop down to just buying a couple figures a year instead of the dozen+ that I do now.

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Originally Posted by ganon578

It sure is a lot of fun! Even for a 13 year old design, the articulation and play abilities don't make it too outdated. I used to have the old Cybertron Defense mold too, in the Roadbuster colors from the Universe line. That one was fun as well, but a little unbalanced if I remember correctly.

Oooh, Cybertron Hot Shot is one of my favourite figures from the Unicron Trilogy. The transformation is super simple but the robot mode is quite fun, with good articulation. I've got the Getaway version too, but I'd agree with the consensus that he doesn't quite feel as nice in-hand. Something about the paint they used, I think.

Somehow I've never owned any version of the Cybertron Defence Hot Shot, even though Universe Roadbuster came out at the peak of my "buy everything" phase.

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Originally Posted by ganon578

Prowl is one of my faves from the CW line. I don't know if it's the paint job or what that does it, but even the mold itself is really fun. I find Smokescreen to be fun, but the paint job is less-so, unless you're looking at the alt mode.

I don't have Prowl or Smokescreen, but I do have Streetwise and Dead End, and that car mold is definitely my favourite of the CW figures I own.

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Originally Posted by ganon578

This is fair. I never watched BW, BM, Energon, Armada, or Cybertron, nor was I part of the fandom at the time, so I have zero gauge of interest. Seems to me that people who did watch BW have a soft spot for it, but if there aren't that many characters that would be able to make the cut as a full line, there's no business sense to go for it.

In this case I think the thing that makes people look back so fondly on BW -- the small cast of well-developed characters -- is the same thing that makes it so tough for them to devote a whole series to it. Hasbro would really have to reach to fill out a full line roster, especially when it comes to the repaints and retools that would make up the back half.

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Originally Posted by ganon578

I would be in favor of a single line with new characters, etc. that doesn't feature the 'cartoon' aesthetic that Animated, Prime, and RiD had; for some reason that look just doesn't strike a chord with me. I much prefer a more robot-y aesthetic, and new stuff with aesthetic cues from G1/G2/Armada/Energon/Cybertron would fit that, but I'd take it with the simplicity of the CW engineering.

A kids show with mostly-new characters but G1 aesthetics would be welcome in my books. It would look very different to most modern kids' fare, but that could be a good thing. I suppose it could even gobble up the Generations subline, if you wanted it to (i.e. the "non-show" figures would be retro characters guys who aren't on the show, done up in the same style).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

I used to have the Micromaster Race Car Patrol set, which was awesome! They were the only Micromasters I had, but man, those things were simple and really fun. I got them when I was an older kid, so I didn't play with them much - I think they lasted better than some of my other TFs. One day I might have to snag the set on eBay or something, as they seem to go for around $20 with free shipping. That's not too bad in my book!

I had a ton of Micromasters when I was little, but mostly I just pretended they were little versions of characters I didn't have toys of that had the same alt-modes. So Overload was Ultra Magnus, Tote was Ironhide, Fixit was Ratchet, Stakeout was Prowl, etc... Didn't really love them on their own merits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganon578

Since quite a few of you had some of the stuff from Armada/Energon/Cybertron, is there anything worth hunting down (that's not going to crush my bank)? I'm thinking of adding a few 'vintage' pieces to my collection. I was looking at Energon Starscream (and the Cybertron one too, for that matter) but didn't know if they hold up today. I like simplicity and fun, and those lines seem to hit that decently - I just don't want to buy pieces of junk. The Cybertron Defense Scattorshot mold looks like fun too. Thoughts?

Energon Starscream is a fantastic choice. Actually, it's probably the best G1-looking Starscream figure out there, even over and above the various Generations and MP offerings.

Cybertron Starscream, at least the Voyager, I'm not so fond of. He's basically a gimmick brick, nowhere near as poseable or fun as he should be. I reviewed him, and he disappointed me.

Other UT stuff I liked...

From Armada, honestly, not much. It was a very back-to-basics kid-friendly effort, understandable after the complicated mess that was BM and RiD. But I think they went a bit too far back, and most of the figures weren't very appealing to me as an adult. A handful of them did combine the line's chunky, cheerful look with decent articulation, though. Cyclonus, Wheeljack and the Deluxe-sized Optimus are probably the best of the bunch.

The Unicron mold is obviously the stuff of legends, but the Armada version is probably the least-appealing deco vs. the insane Energon one and the more G1-looking later releases. And obviously I love the retooled BW figures too, since I'm me. But I think they belong more with the Universe line than with the rest of the Armada stuff.

Energon was a pretty great line all things considered, if you liked small figures or Decepticons. If you Autobots, you were out of luck because anything Deluxe or bigger is hampered by the combiner gimmick. The best of the bunch that I've owned over the years were Ravage, Divebomb, Sharkticon (probably my favourite figure from the UT years), Starscream, Treadshot and Stormcloud.

I didn't follow Cybertron as closely because it was running during the last couple years I was in university and i just didn't have the time. I think I may have more redecos from later lines than actual Cybertron releases. But what I liked most about it was the diversity of the designs. By having the cast hail from different planets, they were able to experiment with some wildly different looks under one banner. Hot Shot is great. Short Round (or, well, Movie Storm Surge) is a nice little Scout. Vector Prime is a really nice effort, though the paint budget and materials don't do justice to the amazing sculpt.